My Anxiety makes it hard to sleep, which makes my Anxiety worse, which makes it harder to sleep
I have a friend who has dealt with insomnia for several years. When she’s feeling particularly stressed or anxious she has even more trouble sleeping and then she starts to feel anxious about the fact that she’s not sleeping, making it even more difficult to sleep. Basically it’s a self-perpetuating cycle. Is this normal? As it turns out, having an anxiety disorder and insomnia simultaneously is extremely common.
Most people understand how anxiety disorders can be detrimental and interfere with life by disrupting efficiency and making it more difficult to have healthy relationships, for example, but generally people act as though lack of sleep just means that someone will be a little bit more tired than the average person. We often act as though it is not normal to get enough sleep. In reality, inadequate sleep can have huge implications for quality of life by increasing the risk for injury or health problems and interfering with performance in the work place3. Most young people act as though not getting enough sleep is simply part of life, but it really is important to get enough in order to stay healthy and happy.
What exactly is the relationship between sleep and anxiety and does one cause the other? Well, it’s kind of hard to say. Asking which causes the other is sort of like asking the age old question of which came first: the chicken or the egg? Some anxiety disorders even list sleep problems as symptoms1 and insomnia is noted as being worsened by anxiety2. When a person has trouble sleeping at night the lack of sleep stimulates the part of the brain that is related to psychiatry disorders, such as anxiety3. So the more trouble someone has sleeping, the more likely they are to struggle with anxiety. Some studies have found that those with certain types of anxiety disorders are twice as likely to have sleeping problems as those without anxiety disorders. It also seems that an individual is less likely to improve from an anxiety disorder if they have a sleep disorder as well1.
Now comes the really confusing part of deciding whether to treat anxiety, a sleep disorder or even both. Since sleep problems and anxiety are related, treatment of one problem generally helps with the other as well3. There is no hard and fast rule about which treatment is most critical, so it probably depends on the individual and what they feel is the most problematic for them. If you or someone you know suffers from insomnia and anxiety, the best advice is to talk to your doctor about what you can do to improve either condition. Less anxiety means more sleep, which means less anxiety. That sounds better.
By: Christine Skopec
References
1Marcks, Brook A, Risa B. Weisberg, Maria Orlando Edelen and Martin B. Keller. The relationship between sleep disturbance and the course of anxiety disorders in primary care patients. Psychiatry Research 15 Aug. 2010: 487-492. Health Reference Center Academic. Web 30 Dec. 2010.
2Mayo Clinic staff. Insomnia: Causes. Mayo Clinic. 29 June 2010. Web. 1 Jan. 2011. <www.mayoclinic.com/health/anxiety/DS01187/DSECTION=symptoms>.
3Ross, Jerilyn M.A., L.I.C.S.W. The Link Between Anxiety and Sleep Disorders. HealthCentral. 5 Jan. 2009. Web. 1 Jan. 2011. <www.healthcentrral.com/anxiety/c/33722/54537/anxiety-disorders>.